La Gourdonnie Farmhouse - (ref: 1248)

3 bed / 1 bath - sleeps 6

Price Range:

Per week
From: 425 euro
To: 800 euro

Features:

  • 3 Bedrooms
  • 1 Bathrooms
  • Sleeps 6
  • Private (no others on site)
 Availability Calendar
and Prices

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La Gourdonnie
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Property Description:

Accomodation
Ground Floor
The ground floor is arranged as a living room, a dining room/kitchen and a bathroom.
The living room has two 2 seater couches, an enclosed wood burning fire, which acts as a heating system in the winter, an armchair, antique coffee table, bookcases and occasional tables. There a radio cassette and a discman (with some CDs), with mini speakers in the room. There is a reasonable selection of holiday reading and guides on the book cases. The large wooden press contains various miscellaneous items a very basic first aid kit.
The dining area kitchen area has a table and six chairs, a large built French style cupboard( crockery etc), various built in cupboards in the kitchen area, a gas cooker (Butane bottle fuelled, spare in courtyard), for summer use, and an aga type stove for winter cooking and heating, a micro wave, a fridge, freezer, clothes drying machine. The kitchen is more than adequate for family cooking.

We find the the local water supply is excellent and we do not boil it. There is a Britta water filter in the kitchen which we sometimes use if the water is hard – we don’t generally bother buying bottled water.

The bathroom has a bath with a shower attachment, toilet, sink and clothes washing machine. The hot water is on an electric trickle system and is automatic; the hot water cylinder in the upstairs corridor. There is access to the courtyard from the bathroom.

First Floor
Access to the first floor is by a staircase leading from the living room to the master bedroom. This contains a double bed, antique bed side tables, a linen chest, a chest of drawers and mirror, a full length mirror, clothes rails, a coffee table, a cane sofa and armchair and an electric storage heater. In the bedside table there are two electric mosquito plug-ins. A door leads to a corridor used for storage and to two further bedrooms. The front is a double bed and the rear is a twin bed with a door leading to an external stone staircase to the courtyard.


Gardens
The gardens are to the front and sides of the house and off the side verandah. The is a garden table, a barbeque, and outside chairs. There is off road parking
for cars
Water
The water supply will be turned on. I will post a diagram of the water cut-off points for emergency use only.

Electricity
The fuse box is in the large wooden press on the stairs. The French electrical system is such that the power often trips during the course of electrical storms and then you have to reset the main switch only (white circular switch on the front wall inside the wooden press).


Area Description:

NOTES FOR VISITORS

SHOPS AND SHOPPING

Village Shops
The butchers, bakers and general groceries in the nearby towns are very good, again generally with marginally higher quality home produced goods. The Cazals butcher and baker (get your order in early on Sundays) are the best. We have not as yet tried a recently opened bakery in Marminiac. The St Pompom baker is poor. Fish is very good quality but relatively expensive and best bought at markets.

Convenience Stores
As in Ireland convenience stores are more expensive and have a limited range .The nearest local shop is in St Pompom (3Km) and has an adequate range of everyday essentials. The next nearest are in Salviac (6Km), Cazals (8km) and Daglan (7km). These are Miniprix and Huit a Huit stores, something in the line of Spar or Centra.

Supermarkets
For larger type weekly shopping the supermarkets are best and we have found that the supermarkets in Gourdon offer the best selection and value for money. Gourdon is reached via Salviac and the supermarkets are on the right on the approach road just outside the town. You will see the InterMarche and Champion signs from the road. There are supermarkets to the north in Sarlat for people arriving from the N20 and wishing to do a large shop on the drive to the cottage. Driving from the South (Carcassone and Toulouse) there are large supermarkets in Cahors and in most other large towns en route

Markets
The markets in the towns are an enjoyable way of getting ultra fresh, organic or otherwise unusual items of vegetables, meat and fish produce. A lot of the wine on sale in the markets tends to be for the “Anglais” as opposed to being particularly good value, or particularly good wine.

All markets are held in the mornings from about 7.30 a.m. until mid-day (sharp). The nearest market is Cazals and takes place every Sunday morning in the square – this is a nice place to sit and have a coffee and a beer and watch the market in action. Prayssac is a very pretty market held each Friday morning – take the D673 from Cazals, through Freyssinet and left onto the road for Prayssac – follow the signs on the left after Freyssinet. The Cahors market is a Wednesday affair in the town square. There is also a covered market in Cahors at the bottom of the square, which is open Monday to Saturday from 7.30 to 6 ish, excluding lunch hour, and on Sunday only in the morning. Gourdon market is on Saturday in the car park of La Poste although they tend to have an additional “Marche Fermier” for local producers during the Summer. I believe this is Tuesday but check the flyers and banners in the town.




WINE
The supermarkets have an excellent selection of wines ranging from the very cheap good quality “special offers” at €2 a bottle up to €5/€7 for estate bottled wines. For an average of €3 a really good quality can be had. In some supermarkets they have special labels like “Club des Experts”, and Reflets de France, a selection of various wines, which are excellent value for money. They also have excellent Vin de Pays and regional country wines in 5ltr boxes which are good drinking.

In the covered market in Cahors (see above-open every day as well as Wednesday market day) you can buy AOC Cahors in your own plastic 5ltr vrac at about €1.60 a ltr at a wine stall. The are some rather old vracs below the sink in the kitchen whose condition I am cannot vouch for; at best they will need a thorough cleaning and sterilisation. There is also a “loose wine” shop in Gourdon opposite the La Poste called the “Les Vins de Soleil”; they have a good selection of bottled wines but their prices for some of these can be high. We do not advise you to use the loose wine shop in Salviac for wine or anything else.

The Cahors appellation extends to some of the land around Prayssac and a visit to the market can be combined with a visit to some of the vineyards on the way into the town. On the approach after you pass the Pepiniere (garden centre) on the right you will come the property of Delbru. They make various reds, Chevalier de Malecoste and Camp de Saltre. Their wines are good but on the expensive side, especially the latter. They like most vignerons are happy for you to try their wines. Continuing a little further down the road on the other side there is a smaller vinyard where the mother and son make excellent wines. The average price last year was €3.20 a bottle. There are several other vineyards along this route all of which are probably worth exploring.

In 2003 we also spent some time in the vineyards south of Bergerac in the Pecharmant sub region. These trips were unplanned rambles and again most vignerons are happy to show off and talk about their wines. All of the wine we took back was very good, Chateau Tertres du Plantou, Bergerac AOC and Chateau des Marnieres, were some of them.
If you have a mind to it might be worth while looking into the possibility of separately shipping a couple cases home if you are travelling by air.

RESTAURANTS
The area has a wide variety of restaurants offering good value and excellent value for money. All will be very busy and pre booking is essential.

Good Food/Budget Prices
Cazals
A restaurant on the square in Cazals (Auberge du Place? whose name I have forgotten) its on the same side as the newsagent, and a little up from the ATM. Meals typically €12 for a 3 course with ¼ ltr wine.

Salviac
Opposite the Church in Salviac is a bar with a restaurant at the back (memory loss on the name again). Similar to the Auberge in Cazals.

Daglan ( beyond St Pompom on the way to the river)

Au Berge du Ceou again a bar ( just immediately as you turn left on entering Daglan-don’t cross the bridge)
Great food but a little more expensive.

Ferme Auberges
Le Maraval (05 53302695)
Past Daglan on the right after you turn left at T-junction on road to Vitrac/Sarlat. Bring large appetites! Great place
Le Rocque
Its back in the forest, about 2 km from St PomPom. I think the best way is through St Pompom, you will see roadside signs to it as you drive around.

Dixon Favourites
Le Roque Gageac 05 53295144 (for this village turn left just after crossing the bridge at Cenac)
Hotel Belle Etoile
Excellent value, menus start at about €25

Les Arques 05 65228808 (great Church and a sculpture exhibition in the village church)
La Recreation menus at about €20; excellent food

Tremolat
Le Bistro d’en Face 05 53228069 a spin off from the nearby Vieux Logis; very good lunch value

Special Occasions Only
St Medarde Catus 05 65362227 ( Adjoining Catus in the general Cahors direction)
Le Gindreau A one star Michelin with food and prices to match.

If you win the Lotto
Les Eyzies-de-Tayac
Le Centennaire 2* Michelin

Local Restaurant to Avoid
Chez Bruno in St Pompom

DAY TRIPS

Canoeing
Both the Dordogne and the Vezere have excellent facilities. “Soleil Plage” on the Dordogne at Cenac/Vitrac has a reputable canoe hire place and a good river beach. Sharp right turn in the middle of Vitrac village and drive out to the river passing a golf course. It is adjacent to a large camp site. The are many other canoe bases along both rivers and trips can be varied from a few hours to full day.

Swimming Pool
The nearest pool is in Salviac. It gets very crowded in the afternoons.

Mountain Bikes
Can be hired in Sarlat –the Peugeot bike shop and in Gourdon.

Walks
The whole area is good walking country- see walks guides on the book shelves.

Domme Airport
Micro-lighting and short light plane sight seeing trips at reasonable prices.


Day Trips
Cahors- a market trip can be combined with a visit to the Pont Valentre in the town with a picnic after on the river banks to the left of the bridge on the town side of the river.
Lascaux Caves- well worth seeing, tickets must be purchased in the very early morning in Montignac - daily visitor numbers are limited

Peche Merle – our favourite - probably more dramatic than their more famous neighbour at Lascaux; possibly combine trip with a visit to the village of St Cirq Lapopie

Limeuil: where the Dordogne meets the Vezere, lovely beach with adjoining bar.


Location information

Beach : 15 km
Lake : 15 km
River : 8 km
Golf: 8 km
Shops: 4 km
Garage: 4 km
Metro: 25 km -
Restaurant: 4 km
Cafe: 4 km
Airport: 75 km - Bergerac
Ferry Port: 700 km - Caen
nearest major town: 4 km - Gourdon

Facilities

Barbeque, Enclosed Garden furniture, Car parking, Patio terrace, Freezer, Fridge, Iron, Oven, Cooker, Washing machine, Dryer, Stereo, Telephone ( incoming, outgoing local, outgoing long, )

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